Semiconductor substrate materials, such as silicon wafers, are processed by techniques including deposition processes, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of metal, dielectric and semiconductor materials; etching processes; halogen-containing residue removal processes (i.e. degassing), and resist stripping processes.
Semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) processes include forming devices on substrates. Conductive and insulating material layers are deposited on the substrates. Resist can be applied as a masking layer over the layer stack and patterned to protect portions of the underlying material where etching is not desired. After the etch process has been completed, the resist is removed from the structure by a stripping technique, such as using organic strippers, oxidizing-type strippers, or dry stripping by plasma etching, and/or halogen containing residue which can accumulate on the semiconductor substrate during etching can be removed by a degassing technique in a degas chamber.